UN chief in talks with Greek foreign minister

Share this:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Greece’s foreign minister, Dimitris Avramopoulos, discussed prospects for a settlement in Cyprus, as well as resolving the Macedonia name dispute, during a February 21 2013 in New York.

The United Nations has been facilitating talks between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots with the goal of reunifying the divided Mediterranean island nation. The talks are aimed at the eventual establishment of a federal government with a single international personality, consisting of a Turkish Cypriot Constituent State and a Greek Cypriot Constituent State, each of equal status, the UN News Centre said.

The UN has also been mediating talks between Athens and Skopje in the dispute over the latter’s name, through the efforts of the Secretary-General’s personal envoy, Matthew Nimetz.

The talks are in line with a UN-brokered interim accord reached in 1995 which details the differences between the two over the use of the name Macedonia, and obliges both Athens and Skopje to continue negotiations under the auspices of the Secretary-General to try to reach an agreement.

At the February 21 meeting, Ban underlined the importance of accelerating progress in both processes and reiterated his personal commitment to that end, according to information provided by his spokesperson.

(Photo: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas)

Comments

comments

About the Author

The Sofia Globe - Bulgaria’s fully independent English-language news and features website, run by an all-expatriate team. Sign up to subscribe to sofiaglobe.com's daily bulletin by using the form on the homepage of our website. Please click to support our advertisers!

Help support the Globe

The Sofia Globe team can testify that upholding the globe is reminiscent of the work of Atlas. Please support us in continuing to offer - as we set out to do when we launched in June 2012 - journalism that is truly independent and informed. All donations are gratefully received as we put in place our plans to grow in the years ahead.

Sign up for TheSofiaGlobe bulletin

About Us: The Sofia Globe

The Sofia Globe provides news, features, insight and analysis about Bulgaria, Central and Eastern Europe and the wider world according to the high professional standards of independence and objectivity that we have set ourselves in our Editorial Charter. Read more about us.

Contacts For editorial, advertising and general inquiries, please e-mail editor@sofiaglobe.com